By IANS
Kolkata : The West Bengal government Friday ordered the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the skeletal remains unearthed from burial mounds near Nandigram in the East Midnapore district.
“We have ordered a CID enquiry into the unearthing of skeletal remains from the burial mounds in Khejuri,” State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy told reporters here.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had stumbled upon five burial mounds Wednesday.
“The CID will take over the case from the district police and probe into the matter,” West Bengal Inspector General (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS.
Meanwhile, the Contai sub-divisional court in East Midnapore district gave police permission to go ahead with forensic tests of the charred bones found at the burial site.
“The court has granted the appeal of the state police and the skeletal remains would be sent to a forensic laboratory in Kolkata in the next few days,” Kanojia said, adding that a case has already been lodged at the Khejuri police station.
He earlier said the forensic test would ascertain the age of the bones, which would also be sent for DNA tests, if necessary.
On Thursday, five grave-like mounds were dug up on the side of a road near Khejuri and the skeletal remains unearthed.
According to police sources, burnt wood was also found in the burial mounds, which indicated the bodies were first burnt and then buried.
The skeletal remains were later packed into five boxes and kept at the Khejuri police station.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team Friday also seized some improvised firearms and ammunition near a water body at Tulaghata in Nandigram.
The recovery of the bones from the mounds has already created a flutter among political circles, and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has dubbed the incident as “something very natural”.
CPI-M leaders claimed the burial mounds contained bodies of five of their party workers who were killed in a bomb explosion at East Midnapore’s Sherkhan Chowk Oct 27.
The opposition Trinamool Congress, however, said the skeletal remains belonged to their party supporters who were killed by CPI-M men, and whose bodies were later disposed of.
Nadigram, located about 150 km from Kolkata in East Midnapore district, flared up over a proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ), including a chemical hub. The state government scrapped the plan later in the face of stiff resistance of local villagers.
Thirty five people have died in Nandigram violence since January this year and a fresh wave of violence was unleashed in November when CPI-M cadres “recaptured” their lost bases in the area by launching a massive onslaught on the rival Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC).